PLANS FOR a new prison at Thornton Hall, north Dublin will definitely go ahead, the Minister for Justice said yesterday. Dermot Ahern said the proposed new prison would be of similar size to the one originally planned, but without “all the bells and whistles” of the original proposal.
The original project involved the construction of a 2,200-berth jail to be completed on a public-private-partnership basis with business consortium Leargas. But the department said the cost of this project had become unaffordable.
“It is the firm view of Government that we should proceed with Thornton Hall at a similar size from a prisoner point of view. Perhaps it won’t be with all the bells and whistles that the original proposal had, but we are looking to do it at the most cost effective way to the taxpayer.” He accepted that more prison space was required, but said it could not be provided at any cost. “The long-term solution for the next 20 years is Thornton Hall,” he said.
